Cars are safer than ever, more stylish, more powerful and, yet, somehow more economical

Originally published: February 17, 2012

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There’s a lot more fun to be had railing against the inconsistencies that are the environmental lobby than praising some overly MBA-ed auto executive’s latest gloat on his recent sales success. There’s a lot more meat to an investigation on quite how a multi-billiondollar corporation managed to let an abomination such as the Pontiac Aztek slip through its quality control process than recounting how a thousand engineers painstakingly plodded through four years of R & D to produce yet another competent but uninspiring sedan. Besides, “51-year-old celebrity sleeps with 15-year-old” is always going to get you more hits than “same celebrity later helps little old lady across the street.”

Nonetheless, after three years of Greek tragedy and fiscal gloom, it’s safe to say we could all use some good news. And, happily, the automobile industry has some to share. Besides the news that the American auto market has finally rebounded – hurrah! says all of southern Ontario – and that Canadians are buying more cars – last month was the best January since 2008 – there’s the simple fact that auto companies, from Detroit to Tokyo, are building better cars. Never mind that some had to be pushed to the brink – actually past – of bankruptcy to get off their duffs and finally engineer worthwhile automobiles. It’s been a long time since there has been so much consistently good product from such a widely diverse group of automakers.

General Motors, for instance, has finally laid to rest the adage that Detroit can’t build a profitable, competent economy car. Not only has its Chevrolet Cruze sold more than a million units worldwide, but the same car spawned the technologically advanced Volt electric car, which, despite what you may have read, is not about to burst into flames, nor is it some socialist plot to further the UAW’s cause. On the other side of the coin, Chevy just unveiled the Camaro ZL1 that, while incredibly politically incorrect, is the best $58,000 any muscle car aficionado could ever spend.

Chrysler continues to defy all expectations by building market share profitably, selling enough Ram pickups and Grand Cherokees to be the Number One-selling brand here in the Great White North. And we are about to find out if a marriage between an Italian sophisticate and a working class Yank can actually produce successful offspring: That new Dodge Dart travelling the auto show circuit is the first truly 100% collaborative effort by the recently merged Chrysler-Fiat duo.

Ford, now the darling of America’s Tea Party set because it didn’t take one of those terrible Obama (oops, George W. Bush) bailouts, continues to impress with a very stylish new Fusion, a popular series of turbocharged EcoBoost engines and an entire family of electrified vehicles ranging from the Focus EV to the plugin hybrid C-Max.

On the Asian front, two more giants seem to have arisen from somnolent repose. It would be easy to dismiss Honda and Toyota’s recent malaise as a simple result of last year’s devastating tsunami (and, of course, Toyota’s unintended-acceleration woes), but the truth is that both Japanese giants have been asleep longer than Rip Van Winkle.

Wander over to the Acura booth at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, however, and you’ll find an NSX so lovingly rendered you’ll forget all about the ZDX. Castigate Honda all you want for taking so long to replace such an iconic beauty, but Honda’s stylists have used the long gestation wisely. Just a little farther down, you’ll find the new Acura ILX, a compact luxury car so pretty it will almost make you forget the Civic.

And, will wonders never cease, there’s some genuine excitement over in the normally somnolent Lexus booth. The latest version of the company’s mid-sized GS — a once promising sport sedan — is again the height of fashion. And though I have signed all manner of legal proclamations not to reveal the details of its reborn attitude, I can attest that it is the most exciting Japanese luxury sedan in more than a decade. On an only slightly lesser note, Infiniti has a new JX seven-passenger SUV, which, though it looks slightly minivanish from the outside, is truly the most luxurious of people haulers inside. It’s also worth noting that Infiniti’s parent corporation, Nissan, is on something of a roll lately, posting record sales and threatening to pass both Toyota and Honda in profits.

Of course, it’s no longer possible to ignore South Korean automakers, which have gained the most from the American and Japanese malaise. Hyundai’s luxurious Genesis proves there’s more soul than cheap and cheerful, while Kia’s Rio5 subcompact hatchback insists that cheap and cheerful need not be bland nor elemental.

As incredible as it may seem, the German luxury brands continue their steady march into the mainstream with Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW up an average of 33.3% in sales in January over the same period last year. All have broadened their focus to include frugality — each now offers fuel-sipping turbocharged four-cylinder engines in lieu of sixes – as well as ostentatious luxury, still embodied in such stalwarts as Mercedes’ evergreen S-Class, now powered by an even more powerful 4.6-litre turbocharged V8. And, though BMW has unveiled a slew of new products in recent months, the big crowds in the Bavarian booth will be hovering around the recently refreshed 3 Series, the sporting sedan by which all others are still judged.

If all this sounds remarkably upbeat, it’s because even the most cynical of auto scribes has to recognize this as yet another golden era of automobiledom. Never have so many cars offered so much for so little. Cars are safer than ever, more stylish, more powerful and, yet, somehow more economical. Enjoy it while it lasts.